


#NotMyBruceWayne

by Mitskirise



Series: Daily life of the bats [2]
Category: DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bruce Has Issues, Clark Kent POV, Clark is Confused, Idiots in Love, M/M, a lot of social media, and bruce is a mess too, the most important thing is they love each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-21 16:12:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18705793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mitskirise/pseuds/Mitskirise
Summary: Clark doesn't know how long it had been since he got the to when the picture was taken. He knows that at one point, the glass in Bruce's hands fell onto the window sill and that his head rested on Clark's shoulder, who glanced up at him and laughed softly, because, ugh, Bruce fell asleep on his feet. Does it not only happen to giraffes? Then he placed his still-full glass of champagne on the window sill and he shook his head a little.He had put his arms around him, to make sure Bruce didn't fall to the ground and then, when he finally managed to see his serene face, without any wrinkles, without any worries, he felt a warm feeling in his chest and could not do anything else if not lower your chin a little and kiss Bruce's hair.





	#NotMyBruceWayne

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [#NotMyBruceWayne](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18172274) by [Mikirise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikirise/pseuds/Mikirise). 



 

It all starts with a photograph, probably taken by Jimmy, when nobody is watching.

And Clark can't even be so angry with him, because, well, he understands that it's not a bad thing to have a picture like that, or sell a picture like that, with Bruce Wayne, even if the picture depicts a friend .

It all starts like this, and Clark can only stroke the bridge of his nose, again and again, and he can only try to breathe deeply and hope he doesn't have Jimmy around him soon, because it's not a nice thing to do or think but --Now he has a headache, while he feels his phone vibrate with arrogance and enlighten, because of the mentions on social networks and the comments he continues to receive. Before yesterday Clark had three friends -no, wait. He still has three friends, only before yesterday he had three friends who never wrote to him and he used his cell phone to look at photos of kittens and puppies. Now he can’t even get close to his smartphone and maybe he should go to the farm, to Ma ', to try to breathe a little, without anyone bothering him. Only that -Conner sent him a message asking him if he can now finally call Bruce  _ daddy _ and this is really scary and Clark doesn't have the strength and courage to have this conversation. And Conner lives with Ma’. Yeah. That’s the problem.

But it all starts this way.

Bruce is working too hard. There is something that worries him, a case that seems to be a little more difficult than the others, or a criminal who gives him headaches because of the shades of gray in which he finds himself, or the Justice League that continues to call him for the most disparate reasons. or Tim, who seems to be the only one of his children who doesn't want to open up to the world, and is hanging on Bruce’s leg. 

Clark doesn't know exactly what's going on, but he knows Bruce is working really hard, that he's pushing himself to his limit, for some reason, and that he doesn't seem to be talking to anyone about what worries him. And, yeah, Clark knows Bruce has no sense of limits,never had it, it’s one of his charms, and he also knows that Bruce will never ask for help, because he’s too proud, and because it’s too much for him to admit. Clark has offered to hear him talk about anything that torments him so much. Because that's what Clark normally does. and because it is good to remind Bruce that he’s never alone.

But Bruce is, well,  _ Bruce _ , and so everything Clark has to tell him goes in one ear and out the other. And so his words were quite vain. And Bruce keep working his finger to the bone, without pointing out anything to anyone that it’s not Alfred, or perhaps, maybe, who knows, Dick.

Bruce always has a headache, it must certainly be chronic, but he can concentrate on more things at once, which was his way of arguing against any subject that Clark has to bring him. According to Bruce this should improve things. It doesn't improve them.

He keeps showing up at Wayne Enterprises and then, at night, on the streets of Gotham and during the twilight, every day, to a different Justice League. And Clark, who already with his work as a journalist and his life as a false single man in his forties gets tired just having coffee on the other side of the office --Clark can say he is at least a little worried for Bruce. Also because Bruce is the reason why he pretends to be a single man in Metropolis. And he would like to meet him a little longer, putting aside those fleeting encounters at the end of twilight or just before dawn. He would like to spend a little more time with Bruce, he would like to be able to lie down next to him, in a bed and finally see him sleeping, with his eyes closed and that expression which is not tense, which is not angry. He would like to be able to hug him and be let him know that he is safe. He would like. A lot. Hoping that his selfish desire to keep Bruce a bit more with him would also do Bruce well. Desires remain desires.

But Bruce kept working hard and Clark kept pretending he wasn't his - something. Come to think of it, it's not like they talked about what they are. Uhm.

Here it is. Yes. He would say that really everything would start in this. The premises of the beginning and what led to that photograph, at least.

They were at a gala reception, or something like that. And it was pure chance that Clark was there, because, one, it was not a reception at the Wayne Mission and none of Bruce's boys had to present themselves, even though Tim and Cassandra were there, fully dressed, to keep the appearances (or that’s what they said to each other), and to make excuses for the absence of their brothers, when someone asked for them. Clark was there as a press officer. Or perhaps, it is better to say that he was there as Lois’ plus one, Lois who detests going to these receptions alone. Because, ugh, she says that men are disgusting and that sometimes he needs an island to grab. And Clark had to be his island, a kind of little oasis in which rest, between an interview and another. Lois and Jimmy seemed to be dancing all over the hall. And Clark likes to think that he would have done a better job as Lois's emotional support if, while he was sure he had heard Tim say that Duke has diarrhea, he hadn't seen Bruce, so far away, apologize and leave the room.

Bruce never left any room, no matter how unbearable people could be, no matter how badly he felt and it didn't even matter how little he wanted to be there. He wasn't there for a Batman job, Clark was pretty sure, so he followed him without even thinking about it, with a glass of champagne he hadn't even touched in his hand and the goal of being together for a while as if he had been recalled by Bruce.

He smiled at a lady when he reached the hallway where Bruce was standing, turning around and then heading back to his target. Bruce stood in the middle of the corridor looking out the window, as if he had been enchanted, or hypnotized by the light of the moon. He must have had a more intense headache than usual. Clark had stood up, right next to him, without even looking at him, while both were facing the window and -Clark perhaps is a little confused. It was not important what they had in front of them, if he has to be quite sincere. He just wanted to make sure that Bruce wasn't doing self-destructive things, and he wanted spending time with him. He didn't ask so much, he believes.

Clark doesn't know how long it had been since he got the to when the picture was taken. He knows that at one point, the glass in Bruce's hands fell onto the window sill and that his head rested on Clark's shoulder, who glanced up at him and laughed softly, because, ugh, Bruce fell asleep on his feet. Does it not only happen to giraffes? Then he placed his still-full glass of champagne on the window sill and he shook his head a little.

He had put his arms around him, to make sure Bruce didn't fall to the ground and then, when he finally managed to see his serene face, without any wrinkles, without any worries, he felt a warm feeling in his chest and could not do anything else if not lower your chin a little and kiss Bruce's hair. 

Clark is strong enough to take him in his arms and take him home, without anyone noticing. But that's not what he did. He held his nose in his hair, supported him in his arms, he hoped, selfishly to stay a little longer, before calling Tim and Cassandra.

At that moment the incriminating photo was taken. While Clark held his nose in Bruce's hair and Bruce kept his eyes closed and that expression so serene that Clark would hold the picture for that alone.

But none of this would have mattered if there were no other situations. Clark watches his cell phone light up again and runs his hand over his face. And with Bruce there's always more.

  
  
  
  


A Tweet. A simple Tweet that was published this morning at 8.12 am, mentioning @BruceWayneForReal and the photo Clark talked about earlier. There are Bruce and Clark, in a corridor, practically hugging each other, with Clark in that pose so embarrassing that the mere thought that Bruce saw him makes his ears get red and then they become boiling. It was a Tweet from @TupacIsStillAliveInHonolulu that started all this delirium from which Clark doesn't know how to get out. And, the truth, the delirium started from that Tweet which, in less than ten minutes, had hundreds and then thousands of retweets and lots of answers asking who was the mysterious man who held in his arms the golden bachelor of Gotham, whom all the Gothamites worship and love with all their heart.

And the biography with Clark Kent's life, death and miracles came out, from Smallville, one of the Daily Planet journalists, provided by a Metropolis account, which apparently has ready themes on every inhabitant of the city.

Clark obviously had no idea of this, because he, ugh, was working. With his coffee stretched with lots of hot water, he was rubbing his eyes and trying not to invest, while he went to work on a bicycle. The truth is that, to be a journalist, Clark really controls the news very little in real time. He prefers in-depth articles on a topic, in the hope of having a well-rounded opinion that ... that's not the point, is it? Well. Since no one ever calls him and since nobody usually looks for his cell phone tips, Clark kept him in airplane mode and, even if he didn't, nobody had even mentioned him, not even the account that had given his biography.

So he was able to drink his coffee calmly, stain his checkered shirt and take the elevator, yawn and think that this could be a Tuesday like there were so many in his life. He really had the opportunity to think so. And he's Superman. He really hoped that everything was fine and that it was normal.  _ And he's Superman. _

The major problem that arises on the web, first on Twitter, which seems to be the nest of all those evils, and then on Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, and every other social media that Clark does not remember exists, is that Clark Kent he is not a native of Gotham. Or that he didn't decide to live in Gotham at some point in his life. Gotham's Twitter is famous for its clown memes and because he really loves his family of billionaires, because they are stupid, they have to be protected and when Bruce Wayne first adopted a child, Dick, they all thought that it would have been a disaster, but the photos that came later, with that child with Mickey Mouse ears, on Bruce's shoulders, or Bruce Wayne on social media who wrote with too much punctuation and too many emoticons "I love being a father <3” --he had been so lovely that they hadn't been able to become attached to the resurgent Wayne family.

There are memes that make people who really know Bruce laugh. Bruce Wayne who is the sex symbol, or so they say, a popularizer of culture and a man to protect because he has suffered so much but has remained so pure, so docile, so real. He grew up in the spotlight, he did nonsense, perhaps, but never with malice, he never muddied his parents' names and lived a good person's life. And if he doesn't know what he has to be protect from, then the internet knows it. And they will protect Bruce Wayne.

Gotham is truly a city where it takes little to be loved. The bar is quite low and it seems that everyone has disappointed them so much that they need a symbol to be able to adore, at least to practice a bit of self-love through others.

Clark knows these peculiarities of the gothamites internet a bit because the main themes of the city are his criminals, Bruce Wayne and strangely also the barbecue sauce, which in Gotham does not seem to find a real meaning. Kara and Conner love to read the barbecue sauce memes and send him some, sometimes, when they remember that Clark also has a phone. But one of the things that gothamites don't have is confidence in other cities and, in fact, one of the first responses to the tweet with the photo of Bruce and Clark was: "One of Metropolis? Better stay away from Bruce." Which turned on the minds of the children of Metropolis, who asked why this sentence.

"Maybe you have inferiority complexes?" tweeted Indigo 654 following a thread about why the Gothamites are the most xenophobic people in the country, which was immediately denied by JuliaWayne647 who instead showed that in Gotham there could also be more violent crimes, but fewer hate crimes occurred, less femicides and certainly less discrimination in general, because, ugh, the gothamites have clear that the real problem of modern society is the rich, certainly not people with a different skin. "Certainly Gotham does not discriminate just because of oily skin, or because of the barbecue sauce that metropolitans love so much. "We’d accepted you, if only you left all of us in peace." And, to this thread, the answer was, from CantTouchThis: "Funny how you say you know that the real scourge of society is the rich and you stand here defending a white man lol." And this has only fueled the discussion even more because: "Bruce Wayne is a Ashkenean Jew so jot that down." And so many other tweets that Clark didn't want to read on.

The truth is, in just a few hours, Tuesday morning became the moment of an outbreak of war between Gotham and Metropolis and Clark didn't even know he was at the center of this discussion.

At least. He didn't know until a mention came from @BruceWayneForReal, at 11.45 am, when Bruce probably woke up. And he had replied to that original tweet a few hours before asking  _ how? _ Bruce's simple answer, which seems to have been very little thought out, was: "He sang me How Deep is Your Love from Bee Gees and I couldn't resist."

Clark receives the notification, frowns and enters the hashtag they created on #NotWithMyBruceWayne, which had entered the trends of the moment. And after that moment he never stops receiving other notifications, of the most disparate tweets. This is how you feel in hell, probably.

  
  
  
  


And so a challenge begins. The How Deep is Your Love Challenge, launched by a user on Instagram, who said, in the first ten seconds of his instagram story: "Well, we know that Bruce Wayne is our bi prince. And we also know that it’s enough to sing him the Bee Gees to seduce him. And I always wanted to seduce Bruce Wayne, because, come on, it's really a great piece of a man. And so I say, hey, let's try it. " And then, in the second part of his story, along with the hashtag, he named, or tagged, or whatever they say, Bruce on Instagram, who, probably very amused by the situation, started to share every story in which they named him on his Instagram profile, telling them how honored and impressed they were by the talent of their suitors.  _ I particularly like this performance here! _ Or he mentioned Clark and said that person had managed to sing better than him, that he might leave him for them.

He’s having fun.

Definitely more than Clark, who watches videos with a hand on his face and hidden behind his computer, not to be seen by anyone.

The dispute between Gotham and Metropolis continues, for some obscure reason. One of the things that comes most often at the beginning of the challenge is: "To save Bruce Wayne from a Metropolis farmer!" And there are kids who only sing the refrain of the song, there are also kids who sing the whole song. A boy said: "Please, Bruce, stay here in Gotham and marry me."

And Clark can only imagine the subtle smile on Bruce's face, as he reads all these messages, and sees all these videos, and reads all the tweets he -  _ they  _ caused. With that photo that Clark looks at, now and then, feeling like he's blushing more than he should. Because he and Bruce have been together for almost a month and they do things like that and they know they know they are doing things like that. Then. Here it is. It shouldn't be so embarrassing. He just needs to tell his face that this is normal and that it is one of the things that happens if you decide to go out with Bruce Wayne.

Clark's phone sighs at the same time that his cell phone lights up for the umpteenth time, but there's Conner's name, this time in the notification, or at least, it's Conner's name on Instagram and Clark frowns, taking the phone in his hand, and opens the notification and he already knows that he doesn't want to see this video, he already knows that Conner has done something he shouldn't have done, so he try to prepare himself as much as possible for whatever it is. Except that he's not ready anyway for what Conner does. He never really is. 

And so here he is, in his video on Instagram, with his black leather jacket and his usual smile, the hashtag of the challenge at the top right and he who takes off his round glasses and alone, while declaring: "My dad gave me permission to call you daddy too. " And then he winks and Clark eyes roll, while Conner starts to tone How Deep is Your Love at the top of his lungs while a Kara behind the phone starts laughing almost losing his breath and Conner frowns, because she should be a professional, not a little girl who arrives at random and spoils the video. It all ends with Conner running towards Kara and he mumbles: "Yes, but you said you could do it. You said you wouldn't laugh."

Well, Clark is not laughing.

Tim -Tim Drake Bruce's child, whom Clark saw yesterday, has already shared Conner's video with the words: "How would you feel if I called your father, daddy? #respectusordie" To whom Conner, without wasting time already answered. "Neither you nor your siblings could do it, because you are just a frigid family."

Which led to this video where Jason Todd ( _ Jason Todd _ !) says, "Hey, daddy, your son thinks we Wayne don't know anything about daddy kink and stuff like that. Do you want to teach me that ?" And this is really too much. Clark locks the phone, covers his face with his hands and tries to breathe and not think about them anymore... they really exaggerated. They have exceeded all limits.

 

And they have also started a new challenge, which is not necessarily parallel to the previous one and which is driving Clark crazy. It's called Call Your Daddy. And now everyone started calling Bruce daddy. Papi chulo. Someone asked him to spank them.

Clark can't live like this.

  
  
  
  
  
  


The only thing Clark can do now, the only thing that comes to mind to forget about this whole thing online is... uhm, find out who started it all. Who took the photo. And this really isn't a way to forget what's going on, but at least it's a way to keep his mind occupied. It is better not to be able to focus on his newspaper article and he tries not to meet Lois, who is chasing him everywhere and wants to talk to him, probably because she wants to tease him and ask him, since he’s dating a billionaire and since when a billionaire would bring out a person he loves with plaid shirts.

Clark doesn't want to be teased and doesn't even want to talk about his story with Bruce Wayne, for one simple reason: because he doesn't even know what he should say about it. He and Bruce never really talked. It just happened that one day, after a mission, Bruce came out particularly injured and that Clark didn't understand why he had never told him about all the pain he had to endure, and Clark had heard him, by himself, trying to patch up all  he had to mend with what he had, without any member of the League realizing it. But he hadn't been silent enough for Clark not to hear him.

He often thinks about it, that evening. Because Bruce is always very careful. He moves on tiptoe, he doesn't smile if he hasn't thought about how to smile, he tries to communicate as much as possible without words and wonders - maybe Clark isn't sure, but maybe, only maybe, Bruce didn't want to be alone, while licking his wounds, like a cat. And he must say that this is the greatest declaration of trust that Bruce could have made to him.

That evening - Clark thinks about it, while tormenting the pen cap, moving it from one side to the other. He hopes nobody will come and ask him anything. But, in the end, again, Clark has only three friends and Diana must have already talked to Bruce and Jimmy must already know everything and Lois ... Lois worries him a little.

That night of a month ago, Clark felt a jolt from Bruce and ran to the room where he was. He was stained with blood. This is how Clark reminds him. His pale skin was stained with bright red blood and dark red and solidified blood on his skin and his helmet, the mask he wore, had place next to him, while Bruce kept his muscles tense, trying to put gauze on his side , with concentrated eyes and frowning eyebrows. Usually, Clark saw Bruce in a position of strength. Bruce as Batman, who feels no pain, only feels determination. Bruce as Bruce Wayne, who smiles while drinking glasses of -well, not of champagne. Bruce who is an idea and not a person, who is not reachable, who is not even beatable. But in that moment, in that fraction of a second, before Bruce looked up at him, Bruce was so human, so fragile, that he wanted to take him in his arms and protect him from all evil, protect him from every danger that could ever threaten him.

 

Bruce is human. Bruce has no magical powers, he has no alien abilities. Bruce was born human from a pair of human beings. Bruce has lived his life trying to get stronger and he is fragile. And Clark remembered it in that moment, and in that moment he ran towards Bruce, without slowing down. Bruce looked up and his eyes, slightly elongated, with that mole under his right eye, seemed to have disappeared, as the blood tried to stop coming out of his body and solidified on his skin. While some bruises were forming under the skin.

And Clark had put his hand on his face, slowly, without much thought. He had studied the state in which the man under the mask of Bruce Wayne and Batman stood. He had heard him hold his breath and then try to free his face, to check the gauze on his side, without realizing that it was the shoulder that had started to hurt him. Bruce is so silent that you don't usually notice certain things. It’s not like children crying hoping to make them understand that they’re sick. He's more like a cat, hiding when he thinks he's sick. And then Clark rested a hand more gently on his face again, bringing his own face close to his ear and then placing his lips on Bruce's cheek.

He hadn't thought of it. At that moment he hadn't thought. He had only acted. And they didn't talk. When Bruce tilted his head and twisted his fingers through Clark's hair, Clark simply acted. They never really talked. Clark simply lowered his head a little more, to kiss Bruce and Bruce simply responded to his kiss and didn't speak.

Clark bites his lower lip and wonders who posted the photo. The first tweet, the source of that photo, seemed to be a person of Gotham, who surely had not been invited to the reception the day before. The photo must have been sent, for some reason. It must have been someone who was in the corridor with them taking the picture, and the only person that comes to mind is the lady who greeted him, but it is also true that lady did not have her phone with her, not even a dress with pockets, so she couldn’t have taken the picture. He immediately thought of Jim. Because Jimmy was acting strangely and because he hadn't shown up all day.

When Clark looks up and looks for him, Jimmy looks down and tries to look the other way. And now that Clark has to get up and try to talk to him, because -okay, it doesn't matter if he posted the picture, he just wants to know why. Jimmy is usually discreet and usually, before doing something like posting a picture online, he asks for permission. He says that a person's reputation belongs only to that person. Then Clark wonders why such kindness was not given to him too.

He would just like to understand. Because until now he can't understand what's going on, he can't understand the reasons for his actions.

But as he gets up to talk to Jim, his phone rings again, and Clark looks down, again, and tries to pick up his phone, again. A new notification. Clark takes a deep breath. He still hasn't understood why he hasn't blocked all notifications yet and why he hasn't yet uninstalled every social media app he has on his phone. But. He is strong enough to be able to withstand another video of Conner calling Bruce daddy -and not even in the good way. As if there could be something, anything worse than Jason who sent him that video publicly.

The only thing worse than that could be having to face Bruce right now. Because Clark doesn't know what to do and feels like he's dying of embarrassment, for one reason or another.

So he takes a deep breath. He closes his eyes. Unlock the phone. They have just started a campaign Save Bruce Wayne from The Farm Boy live. And Clark falls back to his desk as he sees Julia Pennyworth's face start an open campaign against him as a possible partner of his brother. The shots are not professional. She's having a live broadcast on her cell phone, while she's on Wayne Mage. There are all the boys, with her. Alfred is there too.

Clark looks at the live, one hand on his forehead. He doesn't listen to a single word, because it seems to be just a way that Julia has to play with her nephews, to tease Bruce who, sitting at the breakfast table, with a spoon in his mouth, watches his family laugh at the possible ways he and Clark could have met. With Cassandra impersonating Bruce and not letting anyone else impersonate him, not even Damian, who does nothing but protest, saying that if someone had to play Bruce, then that should have been him, who is the same as him. Cassandra simply pushed him away, making his aunt Julia laugh.

It's the most chaotic live Clark has ever seen.

It's also one of the live shows where the whole Wayne family met and there are so many comments saying that it's nice to see them all together, it's good to see them so amused, while they laugh and Damian is so grown up! Duke looks more serene, less sad than when he made his debut as a Wayne, a few months ago. And they're laughing. And they look happy. Clark reads the comments. Clark is played by Duke himself. There has also been a live discussion about who Clark should be. And Dick, taken aback, also shouted: "You can't do Clark!" To which Duke replied vehemently: "Why? Because I’m black?" which made the whole family laugh once again.

Julia narrated, sitting next to Bruce, of the possible first meeting of Bruce and Clark, when they know perfectly well how they met. Julia tells of a Clark at a reception, who can't remember where the bathroom is. Duke puts his hand on his forehead and looks for something around him in an empty room. Julia then tells of a Bruce Wayne who, with a glass of champagne or any other drink, walks among the corridors of the huge house where they were. Cassandra pulls her hair back and her imaginary glass in one hand. With the other hand, instead, he moves his hair backwards, at the exact moment when Julia describes her brother as the charming Bruce Wayne. According to this story, Bruce would have indicated the bathroom to Clark, who had been so enchanted, struck by his beauty (and Duke puts his hands on his chest and pretends to fall backwards), fell madly at his feet.

Clark looks at them. He shakes his head slightly. They seem to be so normal in these videos. They seem to be so happy.

Julia then turns to Bruce, who has just finished eating a piece of cake, apparently. And he asks him: "It went like this, didn't it?" And Bruce tilts his head a little and seems to have slipped perfectly into his public person. He smiles.

"But, actually, Clark and I met in a public park" he replies candidly and Clark puts a hand on his lips to look at him and smiles a little. It's true.

Oh. It's so true. They met in a public park in Gotham.

  
  
  
  
  


The How Deep is Your Love challenge continues and no one seems to want to give up giving Gotham's golden bachelor to a man of Smallville who has now decided to live in the ugliest city in the world, namely Metropolis.

 

But they really liked the story that Bruce told about their first meeting and maybe a very small part of the people who ironically were going against Clark, changed his mind, because "Bruce seems to be really happy." And Clark would like to be able to say it with the same confidence that a group of people who only saw Bruce on television or on social networks, but the truth is that Bruce doesn't talk so much about his feelings and the only clue he has about this story of happiness is that - the Wayne live was really very pretty.

And the How Deep is Your Love videos are multiplied, so much so that Bruce made a story promising that every person who contributed to the challenge, by tagging it, would indirectly contribute to the donation to a charitable organization of their choice. It was enough to sing and signal the entity in history. Only this one was missing. There were those who said that he needed money personally and Clark would not be surprised by news of anonymous donations to this people. Bruce doesn't really seem to have any awareness of money and the possibility that his money may end. He says he has so many that sharing them is the least he can do.

Clark taps his hands on the desk and looks back at the picture they took of him and Bruce yesterday. He had to activate the non-disturbing mode of the mobile to be able to use it without distracting himself continuously and raise the brightness a little, to be able to better see his and Bruce's figures in the night. In all this, Bruce hasn't even sent him a message yet and he doesn't know how to interpret it. Maybe he's waiting for some reaction from Clark. Maybe he just forgot to write. The second option is not realistic. Bruce is very calm, Bruce always knows what the next move should be, Bruce’s a person who plans. That he hasn't contacted Clark yet must say something.

Jimmy finally seems to want to talk to Clark. He stands at his desk, torturing his hands and with his head down, as if he were going to the scaffold. Clark frowns, locks the phone and looks back at Jimmy, trying to look as accommodating as possible. Because he really isn't angry with him. He doesn't think he has to punish him, he doesn't think Jimmy has done something so irreparable. He only wanted to know why. And scaring friends, when he has so few, is certainly not Clark's way of doing things.

"It wasn't me," Jimmy begins, torturing his hands. "I know it sounds silly and I know you surely thought it was me, but I'm ready to swear that I didn't send that picture to anyone and that I only kept it for later to show it and wanted to ask permission. Then Vicky Vale was about to arrive in the corridor and I didn't want her to have the exclusive so I tried to keep her as far away as possible from you and Wayne and then, okay, sure, I know it seems not possible and I'm sorry but, I swear, I didn't send the picture to anyone. I certainly wouldn't have sent it to someone who could have posted it on Twitter, because, ugh, Twitter is the lair of monsters. And I never would have given you in meal to the wolves. And so I ... "

Clark holds his eyebrows furrowed. "And who had the photo?" he asks then, glancing at his phone. "By any chance you have ...?" He doesn't even need to finish the sentence. Jimmy immediately understands and raises his eyebrows a little, surprised, then frowns.

He moves his hands in front of him, as if showing him he could prove his innocence. "I swear I didn't do it and I'm pretty sure the person I gave the photo to -I swear I don't think he published the photo," he says as quickly as possible, then swallows. "Also because he just seemed to be very tired and he wanted to make sure that no one disclosed it, so I don't know how this whole story happened ... and Conner who calls popes Bruce Wayne is really embarrassing. Above all, I'm very happy that no gothamit sent a letter written in blood, I must say that it is enough ... "

Clark's eyes narrow. "There’s still time for messages in blood," he mumbles, running a hand through his hair. Surely someone will come. In the end, it is Gotham and, both as Bruce Wayne and as Batman, Bruce manages to attract many personalities who become attached to him as an idea. It is one of its charms and one of its crosses, as the Catholics say. "But it was Bruce who asked you for the photo, didn't he?" he asks Jimmy, trying to focus on him.

Jimmy takes off his shoulders and grimaces with his lips. "It was his father. The butler," he replies, looking down. "Pennyworth?" And then there's not much else to say.

Clark bites his tongue and tries to activate the wheels of his brain. So it was Alfred who asked for the photo. And this is weird, certainly, but not impossible. If Alfred had the photo, it meant that Bruce had the photo. Then he nods slowly and hopes he hasn't reached the wrong conclusion.

Clark's phone lights up again. Clark runs a hand over his face and closes his eyes. He doesn't want to see this notification, surely. He can't wait for this whole story to end. But he has the feeling that the only way he has to forget her, well, is to finish this story himself.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


He moves nervously, takes a deep breath and doesn't know what to do, but at the same time he knows perfectly what he has to do. He just have to have a little courage, even if the courage usually shouldn't work for these things, but that's fine.

It goes. Well. He can do it anyway.

Clark, in all his life, had only had two partners. Lana and Lois. There was something maybe with Lex Luthor, but it was certainly nothing healthy, nothing he wanted to remember. What Clark, however, is sure of is that he usually let the other one in the couple do everything he could not do. He let the other person give him a life as a couple, he let the other one decide what to do, what to say, what kind of relationship they should have and it's kind of a sad, selfish way of living and moving, but it is also true that it’s the only one he knew. He never really made a decision. He does not know how to deal with others, because it seems to him that everyone wants something that is normal and that he does not have.

Clark Kent is not normal and this is what he had to learn to understand, before understanding what he wants in a relationship.

Clark is not sure of Bruce's background. He doesn't know everything about  his past, but Bruce has that playboy fame and-how much is real about that rumors? How much is only fantasy? Rumors grow, and this particular rumor helps Bruce with his persona, so, how much of this is real?

Clark knows that Bruce is the kind of person who perhaps doesn’t wait for the way the other person in the couple decides to act, but Clark also knows that Bruce has a language that is not made of words, but of gestures. His reports are not made of words, but of symbols and it is so difficult to keep up with him and so... And if the Wayne had that picture, it was published because the Wayne wanted it to be published. Maybe they didn't want to pass an afternoon with their family and spend a while on social media doing what a family with so many teenagers would do. If Bruce had the photograph, then he wanted to know how Clark would react. And if Bruce wants to know how he reacted, it means there is a doubt that is tormenting him.

Maybe it's also the reason  he's working so hard lately. Perhaps is the reason of his keep working despite his wounds and all his limitations. If instead he had spoken and had not acted so childish probably this - all this story would have had a different trend.

Clark sighs and puts his hands on his hips, while Conner smiles. Smirks, actually. Clark has never seen anyone grin before Conner and it’s irritating enough to see him  amused by the situation, and Kara is controlling the light, with one eye closed and one eye open, saying he is looking for the right frame for this event.

Conner helped him pick out the clothes, and now Clark looks like a hooligan with his pulled back hair, except for the tuft, which instead falls in front of his forehead. He didn't want to say anything, of course, because he didn't want to harm Conner's self-esteem -Conner who dressed him exactly like him, so much so that right now they seem to be Conner Kent and Conner Kent as the oldest. Or at least, that's what Kara said, bursting out laughing.

"We can start," Kara mumbles, crossing her arms and running towards Conner, who holds the phone in her hand and nods strongly.

Clark swallows and, if he has any second thoughts, this is an opportunity to step back. Last chance. Think back to the Wayne live, which was called Everyone Against Kent, but which had very little to do with Clark. One of Gotham's tweets on Twitter used the fact that Clark had seen the live but hadn't said anything, not a comment, when those who truly loved Bruce Wayne could not fail to leave at least one little heart in the comments to attack him. Because, come on, Bruce Wayne is adorable. Clark doesn’t know where the irony of the tweet begins or ends, but he can actually say that his silence can be interpreted by Bruce in the same way that Bruce's silence was interpreted by him.

And therefore. "Ready" he murmurs, raising his thumb, to give the kids the okay to start doing whatever they should do..

Kara responds by raising her thumb as well and Conner looks first at Clark, then at Kara and frowns, starting the video. Then he also gestures with his hand, to tell him that he should probably have started talking.

Clark Kent is dressed as a punk of the nineties, with jellied hair and has really too many thoughts on his mind. He also spent too much time on social media today reading all those Metropolis comments against Gotham and Gotham against Metropolis and saw Conner call Bruce daddy, which he really can't get out of his mind and found out how Bruce is not sure about what they should do as much as Clark is. And he also saw the Waynes having fun, which is one of the most beautiful things that can happen to a Wayne.

So he can do it.

It's not that difficult. Clark takes his last deep breath and then smiles, scrolling his shoulders. "Well, I saw that so many people, including Connor, who yes, is punished for having said and done everything he said and done, -they tried to seduce my partner on Instagram and I got a little scared, because I sang How Deep is Your Love almost a month ago and so many of you were really much better than I was then, and Bruce also told me he has a little thought to leave me for a better singer. And I can’t allow it..." He shakes his head, tries to keep his smile and continues. "So, I'm Clark Kent and I'm here to sing How Deep is Your Love by Bee Gees and the next one that will call daddy Bruce -I really hope you are actually his son."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Bruce is waiting for him in front of the window, with his arms crossed and a half-smile, which doesn't seem to be derisive, he doesn't even seem to be sarcastic and Clark flew all the way from Metropolis, only to see Bruce from afar and blush like a child and think about going back. Because it was really embarrassing do what he did, because it was really stupid and he must have destroyed every bit of dignity by singing the Bee Gees, who, ugh, should sue him for how much he destroyed the song.

And Bruce is there, waiting for him at the window of his room, with his half-smile, his stupid black turtleneck and his mole under his right eye, which apparently only Clark noticed, and that is not even loved enough on the web. People on the web should better control the photographs before speaking.

Clark lands next to Bruce, who watches him with his half-smile and tilted head. He puts his hands on his hips, maybe he wants to tease him. And he’s the same as it was in the live broadcast of Julia a few hours ago, radiant, he seems to be even quieter, while Clark raises a hand to be able to caress his cheek, but then rethinks it and continues to walk towards his bedroom door.

"You have no patrol today?" Clark asks. Although he obviously knows the answer, because otherwise Bruce would never have invited him there. He wouldn't call him  _ Kal _ . And Clark wouldn't have been there.

Bruce didn't turn on the light. He likes to stay in the dark and says that one of the ways he has to not have to look at everything around him. Growing up, Bruce told him once, he had to endure too many lights. At first he liked it. The Wayne Manor was far too dark and Alfred had done everything to make even the most hidden corners of the house a little brighter. One of the things Bruce has always said is that his sister and his father gave him all the light he needed. But as he grew older, he realized that he was no longer afraid of the dark, he had finally realized that there are things that are better when it’s dark. Clark doesn't know what things Bruce talks about, but he's pretty sure there's something he has learned to appreciate and that this is not part of his ways of getting hurt.

Bruce, in the dark, approaches him just enough to be able to weave his index finger with Clark's finger. It does it slowly. The finger slips and Clark doesn't even realize it at first. "Dick gave me the night off," Bruce says, with the side of his lips raised, and he also raises his chin, to be able to look Clark in the eyes, while laying a second hand on Clark's chest. "He said he can't stand me with dark circles. And he stole the bat-mobile." He wrinkles his lips and that seems to have genuinely bothered him.

And that makes Clark snort as he shakes his head and puts his lips on Bruce's hair, like he did yesterday. Bruce smells like coconut. This is something that kids on the web will never know. Bruce Wayne smells like coconut and his hands taste of aloe vera. Never of pine. He never smells of pine.

Clark could tell him that all that mess in the web he did, with the photo, maybe sending that picture to Vicky Vale -Bruce could have save it to them. Bruce could have talked like a normal person would, but the truth is, this matters to some extent. Clark closes his eyes and feels the beat of his heart. Bruce can control it. He may decide to slow down or speed up his heartbeat, he may even decide to hide it. But he never hid it from Clark.

Bruce shows him confidence every day, but he doesn't know how to show love. In the dark it's easier to hide and it's easier to talk, it must be this that Bruce liked so much. And they are not good with words, so the gestures become more important and they have their fingers intertwined and Bruce leans against Clark, his face, slowly, leans against him and Clark remembers once again how much Bruce is fragile. How much Bruce is human. How strong Bruce is.

Then lower the chin and place the hand under the Bruce entourage, to make him raise it, so that their lips meet halfway. And Bruce lets him do it, surprisingly docile, surprisingly loose in the movements that Clark asks of him. Bruce seems to trust Clark so much that he doesn't ask for control. He trusts Clark so much, that he closes his eyes and lets himself be kissed in the dark, when nobody, not even himself can see what they have in mind.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
